Tuesday, July 13, 2010

According to TV Tropes, "The creation of fake trailers to make a movie look like it's from a completely different genre has become one of the Internet's most beloved recent art forms, such as The Shining as a family-oriented romantic comedy, the one that started it all, The Windows Moviemaker sample video as a sci-fi horror or Mary Poppins as a slasher horror flick, or Prince Of Space as a summer action movie.

Disney is a real sucker for its movies getting recut with Horror trailers, or in one case, The Lion King as a hardcore political thriller."

Monday, April 26, 2010

Well, you guys know what sparked my fascination and obsession with dinosaurs that dates all the way back to my early childhood. It was back in the day of the early or mid 1990’s, ever since I recovered from a fractured skull way back in 1992.

I have these images of these animals in my head, when I was a little baby or toddler. It was a half hour VHS hosted by Eric Broadman and the original voice of Space Ghost (the original 1966 Hanna Barbara cartoon, not the more popular Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and other William Street productions for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.), Gary Owens.

It is called…More Dinosaurs. I will tell you about what I saw in full detail…

It all started with Gary Owens meeting Eric Broadman in what is supposed to be the home of Donald F. Glut (author of the Empire Strikes Back novelization). It then shows photos of the early dinosaur hunters like O.C. Marsh and E.D. Cope, which are the guys who are involved in the bone wars of the late 19th century.

It then shows Eric saying how to find more dinosaurs, and then zooms in to the mouth of a tyrannosaur and there is a well done opening title sequences fabricated from images of the ever-popular 1981 William Stout book, the Dinosaurs: A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era (reissued in 2000 as the New Dinosaurs, y’know, the reissue of William Stout’s dinosaur book that I have in my house).

It then shows dinosaur caricatures of Gary and Eric before moving on to a 1985 animation festival opening where a punk-dressed, anthropomorphic dinosaur juvenile delinquent making a graffiti outside a building before being chased off by the sounds of police siren alarms and shouts from the off-screen police (“HEY YOU!”) and then show what he wrote in the grafitti… Mokele-mbembe (translating from the languages of the African natives of the Congo region, it meant “creature that blocks the four rivers”), which is described by Herman Regusters (or whatever I say his last name) as a living 35 feet sauropod dinosaur.

It then show Eric Broadman documenting Herman’s failed attempts to find that living sauropod the African natives called Mokele-mbembe via video footage that has recovered from the jungles of Congo.

Eric narrates that Mokele-mbembe’s footprints were discovered in 1776 (around the time the Americans declare their independence from the UK, giving birth to the United States of America) and says that natives were humiliating and eating remnants/members of that sauropod’s family.

It then shows Charles R. Knight’s 1897 reconstruction of a sauropod by the name of Amphicoelias and then stills of what is used to be Mokele-mbembe swimming in the Congo river that Herman took in his failed attempt to find that dinosaur.

Well, Eric was sitting in the park and reminding me or us that the only way to see a living dinosaur was to dinosaur films like Disney ill-fated 1985 Touchstone Pictures release, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (which feature some great pre-Jurassic Park animatronic dinosaurs or brontosaurs or sauropods) followed by behind the scenes clips of that film (including the making of the animatronic brontosaurs) and a clip from that film as well.

It then show Gary, who, in front of those zany and wacky dinosaur puppets, and while giving way to clips from the 1925 silent version of the Lost World, narrates that the first full length feature film to include dinosaurs might be that 1925 silent version of the Lost World, whose stop motion dinosaurs were brought to life by some guy who would later bring to life Kong and the Dinosaurs in the Original 1933 King Kong (later remade by Peter Jackson in 2005). He said it was a huge success in 1925 and indicates that in the climax of the 1925 silent version, an Apatosaurus rampages through London, the capital city of the UK, before diving into the Thames River to avoid capture and as its weight disintegrated the London Bridge it stood upon.

Gary also pointed out that earlier in 1914 (1912, he said), Animator Winsor McCay drew the first widely popular cartoon character with personality, Gertie the Dinosaur as well as showing a clip of that cartoon.

It then flashes back to Eric walking in the lush tropical park before moving on to an interview with a paleontologist living in the 1980s named Edwin H. Colbert and followed by clips from what it is used to be a stop motion short with a dinosaur and a caveman and what it used to be Ray Harryhausen’s unfinished and ambitious Evolution of the World project he made between 1938 and 1940 before he cancel his own project after seeing the Rite of Spring segment in Disney’s Fantasia.

Gary Owens then pointed out that dinosaur movies are different than dinsaurology (which is dinosaur science), and then it shows a color photo of what Roy Chapman Andrews discovered in 1924 Mongolia what is used to be a nest full of Protoceratops egg embryos (now identified as an Oviraptor nest not long after Jurassic Park opens in theatres in 1993, 8 years after this video was produced in 1985 or something like that.).

It Was followed by one of Douglas Henderson’s illustrations that he did for a book called Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up, Gregory S. Paul’s illustration of Hadrosaurs nesting or taking care of their young, and a sauropod herd illustration that you will find in an 1984 book called Ranger Rick’s Dinosaur Book as well as a illustration of an installment of the ZooBooks series where a baby Protoceratops hatches from its egg, Gregory S. Paul (the author of the ever-popular 1988 book, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, whose illustration of a wide, open-mouthed troodontid opposite a cute looking house cat that might be one of the inspirations of a character from my story ideas, Dinosaurs: An Epic Prehistoric Tale, Tearak the Troodon) being interviewed and Mark Hallett’s 1985 contribution for the ZooBooks Dinosaur Book showing a herd of Triceratops defending its young from a pair of striding Tyrannosaurus Rex, followed by a clip from test footage of Willis O’Brien’s unfinished 1931 Creation Project which led directly or indirectly to the original 1933 King Kong. It shows a Triceratops watching over its young.

It then shows Eric traveling through the country side and passing and bumping through sculptures of a Stegosaurus, A Triceratops, what it look like A Diplodocus, and a Dimetrodon (which is a non dinosaur which lives in the Permian period which is way before the dinosaurs took over the earth), before being given some reward from some old guys.

Eric travels through a city full of dinosaur-related signs, before meeting a hitchhiker before stopping at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, where he was interviewed by a guy working in that quarry.

Eric then destroys the Quarry which collapses and reveals a scene in the Mesozoic showing a Stegosaurus and a Apatosaurus fleeing from what it look like a Tyrannosaurus or an Allosaurus which was stopped by Eric who warns that a flood is coming, only to be wiped out, along with the dinosaurs by a flood engineered by a dinosaur surfer before being buried in the earth which then breaks and dug up by paleontologists, as Gary as narrator tells us of a mistake involving the Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus head controversy until cutting to Eric in skeleton form collapsing from his pilt helmet.

Gary then peers into a skull of a Tyrannosaurus, before talking to a curator at the Smithsonian (that museum with an African Elephant in the Museum’s entrance) who shows us the history of life on earth up until the dinosaurs’ extinction.

It then shows a skit featuring Eric visiting children in an elementary school being obsessed with dinosaurs, followed by a clip from the 1980 Will Vinton Claymation short, Dinosaur (not the 2000 CGI film from Disney) and by Eric playing with a clay representation of a dinosaur and a pterosaur.

It then shows Edwin talking about Dinosaur footprints as well as a brief tour of what the dinosaur hall at the American Museum of Natural History probably look like when this video was made and put it on video store shelves.

It ended with Eric reuniting with Gary and being spotted and stalked and pursued by a cheesy-looking Tyrannosaurus Rex before being gobbled up by the cheesy-looking dinosaur as the video and its closing credits were brought to a close.

It ended with a video promo of a 1987 dinosaur video titled Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! (which is well known for Gary Owens’ transformation into a anthropomorphic stop motion animated talking dinosaur (paging the 1991 Disney/Jim Henson TV series, Dinosaurs) (That video actually came out after a video on the mammals that took over after the dinosaurs became extinct titled Prehistoric World), as well as a clip of the dinosaur parade from that video before closing out with footage of children playing alongside a Triceratops outside the Smithsonian before the video fades to black.

See, it was the video that sparked my fascination and obsession with dinosaurs that dates all the way back to my early childhood. As I grow up, I was beginning to learn about contemporary and recent theories on dinosaurs (some of them are outdated), you know like, how the dinosaurs look in real life, flesh and blood, and the fact that dinosaurs are active, tail off the ground warm blooded, active and communal animals that practiced socialization and parenting among other things, as well as, among other things, dinosaur nesting grounds, the mass migration of herds, polar habitats, the shape of Apatosaurus’ head, giant meteoritic impacts, the fact that birds are living dinosaurs and the Feathered Dinosaur revolution that has been going since the 1996 discovery of Sinosauropteryx. And I really think a dinosaur movie like my own, Dinosaurs: An Epic Prehistoric Tale, might be the culmination of my fascination and obsession with dinosaurs that dates all the way back to my early childhood.

So, besides my encounter with that video, can anyone please tell what sparked the fascination and obsession with dinosaurs of any of you who likes dinosaurs (even if it dates all the way back to the early childhood of even some of you)? I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I don't own this clip or the show anyways, but here is a little known clip from the first segment of the first Dexter's Laboratory Season 2 episode, Beard to be Feared.

It started out with Dee Dee and his ethnic friends, Lee Lee (the asian one), and Mee Mee (the black one), playing jumping rope, when Dexter (who grew a red beard in order to meet his idol, Action Hank) shows up, leaving Dee Dee and her friends suprised, and sometimes, doing a Shaft parody talk:

Well, like before, even though I don't own the rights to it or the show anyways, here it is:

Sorry fans, but I have no Fred Flintstone and George Jetson cameo with me.

Anyways, in other news, One of my favorite episodes from Dexter's Laboratory was Tribe Called Girl. It is where Dexter compares the behaviors of Dee Dee and her friends, Lee Lee and Mee Mee, to those of three monkeys in one of his monitors in his control room. He got caught spying on them and ends up being dressed like a girl.

I like this episode and if I will ever make Dexter's Laboratory as a movie franchise be it cutting edge, big screen and even with a big budget, be it 7 or 9 or 12 films or less, and be it a cartoon or part cartoon, part special effects-laden and part live action or so, and mixed with The Powerpuff Girls characters as supporting characters as well as some aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings thrown in for good measure, then, this shall be "the Birthplace of my masterpiece, Dexter's Odyssey" except for in Dexter's Odyssey, Dexter studies Dee Dee, Lee Lee, and Mee Mee in Dee Dee's room, despite the bickering of his wisecracking Troodon dinosaur lab assistant, Tearak (who may have the voice and vocal quality of Mr. Beefy, a talking bull dog from the Adam Sandler movie, Little Nicky), as usual, but when Tearak smells Dee Dee and her friends playing with the perfume, he escapes with "his magic twanger", which is, his staff of gourds, and was greeted handsomely by Dee Dee, Mee Mee, and Lee Lee, who kissed him.

Tearak led the three of them to Dexter's camouflage to introduce them to Dexter, Dexter hides in the stuffed animal toys, so they baked them a chocolate cupcake to lure Dexter to them, and when Dexter hops into view like a rabbit or a bunny, Lee Lee said, "Aww, How cute!" and then smiles at Dexter, who eats the cupcake, and later when he takes a quiz test with Dee Dee, Lee Lee, and Mee Mee, When Mee Mee asks them who will be his girlfriend even when he grows up, Dexter mentions Lee Lee's name and starts to cry but is calmed by Lee Lee, who sings a lulaby (just like Baby Mine from Dumbo, and/or You'll Be In My Heart from Disney's Tarzan) and that convinces them to have Dexter sleeps with Lee Lee sleeps for the night, unaware that not only would Dexter, Dee Dee, Lee Lee, and Mee Mee and Tearak the Troodon dive into an epic, perilous, and dangerous quest through Timboxia, a land of wonderous places, peopled with strange, fabulous, sometimes prehistoric and often terrifying beings and creatures and cultures (including a ravenous T-Rex dinosaur unleashed by Mandark on the 5 of them), deep in to the shadow of the wicked Dark Lord Mandark and defeat and kill him by vanquishing him into the volcanic fires from which he was born (though unfortunately, they were located in Astronoma, the very realm of Mandark himself), but Dexter and Lee Lee would also declare their love for each other.

I don't own the episode or the show anyways, for it belongs to Genndy Tartakovsky and Cartoon Network, not me, but here it is at your and/or my own risk:

And oh! One more thing: my favorite part from Tribe Called Girl is when Lee Lee said "Aww, How Cute!" and smiles at the camera and Dee Dee and Mee Mee looks at her and then at each other. I don't own that part either, but here it is:

Well, for even anyone left furious even when Cartoon Network began trying to attracts teenagers through live action crap, Do you remember, Dee Dee's friends, Lee Lee and Mee Mee, from Dexter's Laboratory? Do you miss them? What did Lee Lee and Mee Mee look like and what are their ethnic backgrounds? Do you recall any episode or memory of or part featuring Lee Lee and Mee Mee?

Well, Do you guys want Lee Lee and Mee Mee, Dee Dee's friends, to deserve the recognition, appreciation, and/or major roles they deserve and need?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Although Disney (the producing studio) still barely made a profit from this one, Dinosaur (2000) was one of the first serious attempts at blending all-animated characters (in Dinosaur's case, CGI) with live action scenery for a modern live action/animated movie. Here is the best thing in Disney's Dinosaur---The first seven minutes of the movie.

The only two things that are different in this video edit of mine is that Plio's opening narration is missing and that The Carnotaur attack scene is played without background music (unlike the actual movie). I don't even own this anyway, for it belongs to Disney, not me. But anyway, enjoy the first seven minutes of Disney's Dinosaur, everybody! Haters of this movie, beware!

P.S. Here are two different sets of Thumbnails from the first seven minutes of Disney's Dinosaur; one is the 4 panel and 4 coloumn one; the other is the 8 column, 8panel one.